Cheers! Salut! Gan bei! The annual Harbin Beer Festival is back from June 28 to July 9! The festival, like in the past, will celebrate international culture and mass participation is expected. Every year the Beer Festival brings local Harbin residents and travellers from around the world together. Everyone enjoys a good beer, so drink up and get tipsy in China's northern city.

Theme

The theme for the Beer Festival is, "Passionate Romantic Nights, A Festival of Drunken Beauty." Well, that pretty much speaks for itself. It'll be interesting to see how that one is incorporated!

The Beer

There will be a diverse range of domestic and international brands at the event with more than 30 brands and 200 varieties to choose from. First-timers include Yanjing, Montenegro, Czech Republic, Harbin Bear and more.

The tents are back, but bigger and better! Last year's Harbin Brewery Tent, Snow Beer Tent, German Beer Tent, Munich Beer Hall Tent and other veterans will be back with upgrades. This means larger tents and more performances!

Take your taste buds around the world with the vast selection of domestic and international beers. From China there will be Qingdao, Yanjing, Harbin (of course), and more. The Festival will also feature Budweiser and Blue Ribbon from America, Carlsberg from Denmark, 1664 from France, Guinness from Ireland, Heineken from the Netherlands and Montenegro and Royal Castle from the Czech Republic. Other international and domestic brands will also bring their own unique flavour all the way to Harbin.

Five Highlights

Highlight 1: Outside Spaces for Drinking
No one wants to stay in one place throughout the entire beer festival. The folks in Harbin have set up chairs and tables in the nearby woods and boats on the nearby water for festivalgoers. If you prefer to drink in the more traditional beer tent, there are still plenty of those as well!

Highlight 2: Ice and Snow Performances…in the summer!
Everyone wants to see some ice and snow when heading to Harbin. The Festival organisers plan on reversing the seasons and featuring winter favourites including ice dancing and an ice arena. How's that for a cold drink!

Highlight 3: "Capture the Festival", Photography Competition
The festival will have a photography contests, and a PEN Writer's Society activity space for writers.

Highlight 4: The Beer Garden
This Harbin Beer Festival is bigger than ever with the addition of a unique beer garden.

Highlight 5: Harbin Goes German
The Festival this year will follow the traditional German Oktoberfest model with more international beers than ever and the incorporation of different cultures in the festival.

Activities

1) Beer Festival on Ice: An ice arena will be built on the festival site with ice ballet, acrobatics and other performances.
2) Float Parade: The Harbin Beer Festival Opening Ceremony as all as every festival day will feature a float parade and a Russian cultural performance from 15:00-17:00 down the central street of Harbin.
3) Drive-in-Movie: Nightly at the Harbin Beer Festival site.
4) Lottery Prize Draw: Daily at the Harbin Beer Festival site.
5) Beer Festival Activities: Performances from well-known Harbin and Heilongjiang musicians in the big tent.
6) Beer King Competition: Various beer drinking games in the big tent.
7) Beer Festival Photography Competition: Get out your cameras!
8) Beer Culture Exhibition: Daily on the site of the Beer Festival, information and displays regarding beer culture, production, manufacturing and more.
9) Extreme Thrills: Daily on the site of the beer festival, bungee jumping, rock climbing, rope sliding and other sport events.
10) Beer Festival Hip-Hop Competition: The competition will be held before the start of the festival. Hip-hop artists and groups will go through a number of rounds and the winners and runner-ups will be crowned. The best dancers will perform at the Harbin Beer Fest Opening Ceremony and other occasions throughout the festival. 
11) Harbin Beer Festival Songs, Logo and Flag: The best festival songs will be debuted at the Opening Ceremony and will be sung by all throughout the festival. The beer festival themed logo and flags will bring the whole festival together and make great souvenirs!
12) Beer Festival Singing Contest: The competition will be held through the festival.
13) And Much More: Including exhibitions featuring local specialties and culture.

I'm sure by the end of the festival the Harbin Beer Songs will be stuck in your head for weeks…almost as long as your hangover will last! Drink and soak up the Harbin culture at this celebration of beer and of life.

When: June 28- July 9, 2012
Where: Harbin Ice and Snow World, Harbin Sun Island, west side of Songbei
地址：哈尔滨冰雪大世界,哈尔滨市松北区太阳岛西侧
Price: 10 RMB, 30 RMB for Opening Ceremony
Tel: 0451 8488 4271
Website: http://www.chinahrb-bierfest.com/
Official Blog: weibo.com/hxbeer
Getting there: Take bus 19 to Wulu Station.

Warning：The use of any news and articles published on eChinacities.com without written permission from eChinacities.com constitutes copyright infringement, and legal action can be taken.

Keywords: 2012 Harbin international beer festival Harbin events beer festival harbin 2012 beer festivals China